


The Odds Are That We Will Probably Be Alright

by ElizabethOlsenIsMySpiritAnimal



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: 5 + 1, 5 Times, Album: Grinning Streak (Barenaked Ladies), Angst, Angst and Feels, Background Relationships, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Inspired by Music, Post-Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Post-Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Pre-Star Wars: A New Hope, Sad with a Happy Ending, Snippets, Song: Odds Are (Barenaked Ladies)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:46:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24937771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElizabethOlsenIsMySpiritAnimal/pseuds/ElizabethOlsenIsMySpiritAnimal
Summary: Ahsoka sees Anakin five times during the time of the Empire, and one time afterwards.
Relationships: Ahsoka Tano & Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano
Comments: 12
Kudos: 80





	The Odds Are That We Will Probably Be Alright

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LanaBenikoisBestGirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LanaBenikoisBestGirl/gifts).



> This one goes out to Lana, who gave me a gift and so I gave one back!

//

"Ahsoka..."

She hasn't heard his voice in years. Still, at his voice, Ahsoka Tano looks up, up at Anakin Skywalker. "Why did you leave me?" He looks hurt, disappointed even, and however soft it is, the glance from his eyes bores into her soul.

"I had no choice." Ahsoka says. "After Barriss...what the Jedi did to me, I couldn't stay. You saw what they did to me, Anakin. They put me on trial, nearly executed me for it, and then they called it my 'great trial' and offered me a promotion, as if that was an apology for abandoning me at the moment I needed them most."

"You could've stayed." Anakin says, kneeling on the floor, reaching out towards her with his mechanical hand. "If only you'd stayed, they might have seen the error of their ways." She thinks she hears mechanical breathing in the distance, coming closer with every passing moment. "But you didn't." Anakin says, and the grip on her shoulder tightens. "You...you abandoned me."

"I didn't abandon you." Ahsoka responds, and Anakin shakes his head.

"You did." He says, and for just a moment, his eyes flicker a deep yellow. "You failed me."

Ahsoka wakes up in her bed, the ticking of the clock the only sound besides her breathing.

//

"Ahsoka..."

She's poring over a report, gathered by a local resistance cell. One of their teams had engaged Darth Vader in combat, and save for the sharpshooter, who'd wisely fled when the battle was lost, every operative on the field had been killed.

"Ahsoka..."

Looking up, Ahsoka sees Anakin, leaning against the wall, an amused smile on his face. "Still reading reports?" He asks, gesturing at her weary form, seated against a desk, a single light illuminating the room. "You've become so responsible." His voice is teasing, friendly, even. "Why, I remember when you and Barriss would sneak off, 'borrow' a speeder from one of the temple hangars and go see the sights. And now you read reports in your spare time." He shakes his head in a fond manner. "You've grown up."

"The Empire does that to you." She says, wincing when Anakin stiffens. "And what spare time I have is spent managing the Resistance." There's the sound of mechanical hissing again, a slow, steady rhythm.

"Ah...the Resistance." Anakin says, and his voice deepens, an unearthly undertone beneath it. "Do you really think you can withstand the Empire? The Dark Side?" His voice becomes mocking, malicious, and Ahsoka sets down the datapad, her fingers inching towards her lightsabers. "You know you can't. You'll fail, just like you did before."

Ahsoka stands up, drawing her blades, but Anakin vanishes before she can ignite them.

"Oh, Snips." Anakin's voice echoes in the dimly lit room, a mocking tone to his voice. "You still have so much to learn."

//

Her arm hurts. 

Ahsoka groans and resists the urge to clutch the limb in question, the docs said not to put pressure on it, after all. In all fairness, she hadn’t had a lot of time to do much of anything but react, and she’ll take the broken limb over being incinerated any day.

“Ahsoka…”

From her hospital bed, in a private room, or as private as you can get aboard a hospital ship, anyways, Ahsoka looks up and sees the figure standing there in the dark, as clear as day can be.

“Yes, Anakin?” She asks, wondering what her hallucinatory visitor will say to her this time.

“I would’ve ducked, not dove off the building.” He says, a cock smile crossing his face. “But I suppose that’s Obi-Wan’s fault. He always did teach you to play it safe.” His face hardens, the blue in his eyes turning gold. “It’s why you’re standing there, and I’m not.”

“...what do you mean?” Ahsoka whispers, and Anakin laughs.

“What it means, Snips-” Anakin says, clapping his hands together, slow and mockingly. “-is that I chose to jump into the abyss, and come out stronger for it. You’re still there, on the edge, pretending like there’s something worth staying up there for.” He holds out his hand. “You could change that, you know. Jump. Join me. We’ll be together-”

“No.” Ahsoka says, shaking her head. “I have people who need me here.”

“And where were you, when I needed you?” Anakin asks.

She has no answer.

//

"Ahsoka..."

She looks up. All around her is the rock of the Jedi Temple, not the grand, magnificent one on Coruscant, but the simple, ancient one of Lothal.  _ He's not here. He's not here. _ She thinks, and closes her eyes.

"Ahsoka..." Anakin's voice pierces the concentration she'd mustered up, and she turns her head in the direction the sound came from. "Why did you leave?" He asks, even though he knows the answer.

She turns, and he appears, shrouded in shadows and mist.

"Where were you, when I needed you?" Anakin asks, eyes hard and accusing.

"I made a choice." She responds. It was her decision, one she didn't want to make, but after what the Jedi had done, she had no choice but to leave.  _ There's not a day that goes by that I wish I could've stayed. _ She thinks. "I couldn't stay."

"You were selfish." His voice is unfriendly, disappointed, a tone he'd almost never used with her.

"No." She says. He hadn't agreed with her choice, had fought it to the very end, he'd begged, pleaded, wanted nothing more than for her to stay by his side, but he'd never called it selfish.

"You abandoned me. You failed me!" Anakin shouts, and her mind flashes back to that day, the day she'd left his side. She can still feel herself walking down the steps to the Jedi Temple, his stare at the back of her head.  _ I didn't abandon you. I would've been there if you'd only asked, all you had to do was ask! _ She thinks, feeling tears brim in her eyes.

"Do you know what I've become?"

Ahsoka turns, and Anakin is gone. In his place is the dark, imposing figure of Darth Vader.

She draws her blade and swings, it passes right through him, and he vanishes, the mechanical sound of his breath echoing across the rock.

//

"Ahsoka..."

Ezra and Kanan are ahead of her, doing their best to stumble towards the Phantom, towards escape and freedom, and Ahsoka had meant to follow, until she'd heard his voice. She turns back, towards Vader, no, towards Anakin.

"Anakin..." She says, and her voice trails off. There are so many things she wants to say.  _ I'm sorry. I should've stayed. I miss you. _ Are foremost in her mind, but the monstrosity in front of her looks up, and behind the damaged mask, she sees a single, yellow eye.

"Ahsoka..." Vader says, but she can hear Anakin's voice behind it. He looks conflicted, in pain, even.

"I won't leave you!" She shouts, just as Vader stands up. "Not this time."

His eye flickers. Vader looks away, and for a moment, the yellow iris becomes blue, and a thousand memories of Anakin flood into Ahsoka's mind. Their adventures together during the war, every time he'd checked up on her when she was hurt, brought her food when she was hungry, water when she was thirsty, her favorite snacks when she craved them most. Speeder rides in the middle of the day when she was bored, friendly lightsaber spars when the books were too much, witty jabs exchanged even as they swung and danced around each other. Master and apprentice, an unbreakable bond.

For a moment, she sees Anakin, not Vader, the Sith Lord, but Anakin Skywalker, her friend, her  _ brother.  _ For a moment, there is hope, blinding, fleeting hope-

"Then you will die." Vader says, and there is none at all.

//

In a quiet forest clearing, Ahsoka stops.

In that clearing, is a pyre, one long since burnt out, nothing but burnt, charred wood and ashes. Yet, she knows that there is...or rather, was, a figure who was cremated there, and she knows exactly who it is. 

“Ahsoka…”

“Ahsoka.” Calls the voice of her master once more, warm, yet solemn all the same. Ahsoka turns around, and sees her master, healthy and as whole as the day they parted ways, albeit with a blue glow about his frame. She does not sense the aura of the dark around him, just light, pure light.

“Anakin?” She whispers.

“I’m here, Snips.” He says, closing the distance, standing before her like how he did all those years ago, the day they first met. “And I am so, so sorry, for everything.”

Ahsoka looks at Anakin for a moment. Then she opens her arms and wraps them about his ghostly frame in a hug. Surprisingly, her arms meet his body and don’t pass through. The brief moment of confusion that crosses her face elicits a small laugh from him.

“I missed you, Snips.” He says, hugging her back, his ghostly arms warm around her frame. 

“I missed you too.” Ahsoka says.

_ I forgive you.  _ She thinks, and as Anakin seems to relax, she knows he heard her.

_ Thank you, Snips. _

//


End file.
